SMALL STATES NETWORK
FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (SSNED)
NEWSLETTER No. 4
February-September 2010
This Newsletter is being sent to all
Points of Contact of the SSNED Member States
and other interested persons
Annex, Central Bank of Malta, Pope Pius V Street, Valletta, VLT 1060, Malta
Tel: +356 2122-3525; +356 9926-2141; Fax: +356 2122-8504; Email: admin@ssned.org; Website: www.ssned.org
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 3
2. MEMBERSHIP ........................................................................................................................ 3
3. COMPLETED, ONGOING AND PROPOSED TWINNING PROJECTS ........................ 3
3.1 Completed Twinning Projects ............................................................................................... 3
3.2 Ongoing Twinning Project .................................................................................................... 4
3.3 Twinning Projects being proposed for Implementation ........................................................ 4
3.4 Further information about Twinning Projects ....................................................................... 4
4. COMPLETED AND PLANNED TRAINING WORKSHOPS ............................................ 5
4.1 Completed Training Workshop ............................................................................................. 5
4.2 Planned Training Workshops ................................................................................................ 5
4.3 Further information about Training Workshops ................................................................... 5
5. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 6
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1.
INTRODUCTION
This newsletter covers the period 1st February 2010 to 30th September 2010. Previous editions of
the SSNED Newsletters are available at: http://www.ssned.org/news .
2. MEMBERSHIP
Three countries namely the Federal States of Micronesia, San Marino and Swaziland joined the
Network during the period covered by this newsletter. The number of SSNED members is
currently 36 (the list is available at: http://www.ssned.org/members-network). Eligibility to join
the Network is explained in Article 7 of the Network’s statute (available at:
http://www.ssned.org/statute). The Indian Ocean Commission also joined the Network as a
regional organisation with membership consisting mainly of small states. Members of the
Network considered as developing countries can apply for funds to conduct capacity building
projects.
3. COMPLETED, ONGOING AND PROPOSED TWINNING PROJECTS
3.1 Completed Twinning Project
The Network has completed another twinning project during the period covered by this
newsletter as shown in the table below. Summary of the project is available at the Network’s
website.
Beneficiary
State
Beneficiary
Institution
Theme
St Vincent
& the
Grenadines
St Vincent &
The
Grenadines
Postal
Corporation
Counter Automation at the St Vincent
and the Grenadines Postal
Corporation. More information is
available at
http://www.ssned.org/twinning_projects_
completed
Service provider
Barbados Postal
Services in
collaboration with
Ascent Software
Limited
The contract for this project was drawn up in collaboration with the St Vincent and the
Grenadines Postal Corporation and the Barbados Postal Services who acted as service provider.
The contracts contained a main document with special provisions relating to the project, plus 7
Annexes, three of which are (i) general conditions for twinning projects (ii) the project’s Terms
of Reference and (iii) the project’s budget. The budget was agreed upon by both the beneficiary
state and the service provider, and closely vetted by the Secretariat to ensure that they yield value
for money. The other four annexes to the contract are administrative templates.
Information about the documentation associated with Twinning projects is available at:
http://www.ssned.org/twinning_contract_annexes .
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3.2 Current Twinning Project
The Network is currently engaged in the following twinning project.
Beneficiary
State
Namibia
Beneficiary Institution
Theme
Competition Commission of Namibia.
More information is available at
http://www.ssned.org/twinning_projec
ts_completed
Service
Provider
Developing Strategic
Competition
Directions for the
Commission
Competition Commission of Estonia
of Namibia
The objective of the Namibia project is to assist the Government of Namibia in developing strategic
directions with regard to the operation of the Competition Commission and with regard to competition
law and policy in Namibia. Other objectives include training public sector officials in competition law
and policy, providing advocacy with regard to competition among Namibian stakeholders, including
consumers and the business community and identifying competition constraints in a small jurisdiction as
is the case of Namibia.
3.3 Twinning Projects being proposed for Implementation
The following projects are currently being proposed for implementation by the Network should
funding be forthcoming post 2010.
Beneficiary
Beneficiary Institution
Theme
Ministry for the Public
Service, Governance
Improvements and
Boundaries
Ministry of Public
Infrastructure, Land
Transport and Shipping
Developing a National ICT
Policy for Belize
COMNET – IT,
Malta
Support in the Setting-Up
of a Land Transport
Authority
Singapore Land
Transport
Authority
Swaziland
Swaziland Investment
Promotion Authority
TBA
Tonga
Tonga Post Limited
Developing a
Competitiveness Strategy
for Swaziland
Postal Counter Automation
Belize
Mauritius
Service provider
Barbados Postal
Services
3.4 Further information about Twinning Projects
Information about the other twinning projects completed in 2009 and 2010 is available at:
http://www.ssned.org/twinning_projects_completed.
Information about the procedure for requesting funds for twinning projects is available at:
http://www.ssned.org/twinning-proj .
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4. COMPLETED AND PLANNED TRAINING WORKSHOPS
4.1 Completed Training Workshop
The Network has completed another training workshop during the period covered by this
newsletter as shown in the table below. Summary of the project is available at the Network’s
website.
Host
Theme
Target Participants
Competition
Commission,
Government
of Namibia
Competition Law and Policy in the
African Small States. More information is
available
at
Government officials, operating in
Ministries dealing with trade and
commerce or related portfolios, in
African small states
http://www.ssned.org/namibia_worksh
op_docs
The workshop was organised on 26-27 July 2010. The workshop offered high-level training on
competition issues to officials, operating in Ministries dealing with trade and commerce or
related portfolios, in African small states. The programme of the workshop is available at
http://www.ssned.org/namibia_workshop_docs. The workshop covered issues relating to
competition constraints in small states, institutional designs, and regional collaboration.
Documentation relating to the workshop, including a final statement and a picture gallery is also
available at http://www.ssned.org/namibia_workshop_docs .
4.2 Planned Training Workshops
The following two training workshops are being planned.
Host
RMCE, Mauritius,
in collaboration
with the
Commonwealth
Secretariat
Ministry of
Finance of Samoa
Theme
Competitiveness Strategies and
Capacity Building for African
and Indian Ocean Small States,
planned for 15-17 November
2010
Competition Law and Policy in
the Pacific Small States. Planned
for 17-18 January 2011.
Target Participants
Government officials, operating in
Ministries dealing with trade and
commerce or related portfolios, in
African and Indian Ocean small states
Government officials, operating in
Ministries dealing with trade and
commerce or related portfolios, in
Pacific small states
4.3 Further information about Training Workshops
Information about the other training workshops completed in 2009 and 2010 is available at:
http://www.ssned.org/completed_workshop .
Information about the procedure for requesting funds for training workshops is available at:
http://www.ssned.org/workshops .
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5. CONCLUSION
The projects funded by the Network are innovative in that they utilize expertise from Small
States in order to assist in the capacity-building of other Small States. They are also effective, in
that they attained the intended objectives with minimum costs.
The Network has been in existence for 3 years (first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on
17th October 2007). It has succeeded in supporting capacity building projects in various small states,
in collaboration with the governments of these states. The future of the Network is however uncertain
due to lack of funds beyond 2010.
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